Aircraft are frequently used in conducting search and rescue, law enforcement and reconnaissance missions by military, police and para-military organizations. These missions are frequently over water and include the use of aircraft employing various detection and observation technologies. When this type of mission is conducted at night, the aircraft is provided with flares or floodlights to enhance air crew visibility.
Illumination flares are typically discharged from a lower portion of the aircraft's fuselage into the airstream by means of a flare launch tube system. The flare launch tube system provides a seal between the environment within the fuselage and the lower pressures and temperatures encountered by an aircraft at altitude.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown an upper perspective view of a flare tube installation 10 currently in use. The prior art flare tube installation 10 is adapted for mounting to a deck plate 14 attached to the aircrafts's deck, or floor, 12. The flare tube installation 10 includes an upper flare tube 16 attached to a lower mounting plate 17. Lower mounting plate 17 is adapted for secure coupling to an upper portion of a mounting assembly 18 by means of plural threaded members such as screws or bolts. A lower portion of mounting assembly 18 is similarly adapted for attachment to deck plate 14 by means of plural spaced threaded members. Aligned apertures within the upper flare tube 16, the lower mounting plate 17 and the mounting assembly 18 receive the flare and allow for its discharge from the aircraft.
Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a simplified perspective view of a portion of a flare tube installation 24 which includes a flare tube 25 and the flare tube's base plate 26 which is adapted for secure attachment by means of plural threaded members 27 to the aircraft's deck (not shown for simplicity in the figure). Other components of the flare tube installation 24 are omitted from FIG. 2 to simplify the illustration because this figure is included to show that a lower end of flare tube 25 is continuous with and connected to an upper end of a main discharge tube 28. The main discharge tube 28 is disposed between the aircraft's deck and a lower portion of its fuselage to allow for discharge of a flare from the aircraft. It should also be noted that is the flare tube 16 is oriented at an inclined angle relative to the aircraft's deck 12 for directing a discharged flare in a rearward direction relative to the direction of travel.
As not all missions require the use of flares, the flare tube installation shown in FIG. 1 allows for removal of the flare tube 16 when not in use. However, the flare tube 16 is not easily removed, or installed, because of the number of system components which must be manipulated and the limited accessibility to these components. With the flare tube 16 removed, the remaining portion of the installation restricts the use of that portion of the aircraft's deck and the space above the flare tube's base plate 20. In addition, frequent removal of the flare tube 16 is necessary because an illumination flare capability is not necessary for all aircraft missions and the space occupied by the flare tube can generally be used in carrying out other aircraft missions. For example, the limited deck space in an aircraft requires that the flare tube installation be located adjacent a crew member station and in front of a door in the fuselage. This arrangement restricts the observation capability of a crew member through a fuselage window, as well as access into or out of the aircraft emergency door. Finally, when the airborne flare launch system is used for marking positions in search and rescue missions, it typically is necessary to re-configure the aircraft to install the flare launch system on an expedited basis which places ease of installation of the system with minimum time at a premium.
The present invention is directed to a quick release flare tube mounting arrangement particularly adapted for use in an aircraft which simplifies and reduces the time to install or remove a flare release tube within the fuselage of an aircraft, and does not prevent, or restrict, the use of the aircraft deck and space occupied by the removed flare release tube in carrying out other activities necessary for other missions.